THE CONCEPT OF WILAYAH (THE CLOSER SERVANTS OF ALLAH)

Allah swt has honoured the ummah by making it the best of all nations, and sending the Prophet s.a.w with the revelation to all beings to liberate them from the darkness of kufr (disbelief) to the light of iman (faith).

Allah swt has signified through his glorious book and the Sunnah of His prophet s.a.w that He has favoured ones from amongst His faithful worshipers (mu’minun), and that Shaytan also has guardians. And there is a difference between the favoured ones by Allah and the guardians of Shaytan.

It is amongst the mercy of Allah upon His servants, the followers of the Messenger of Allah, that He has opened to them the doors of perfection to very distant horizons, which is above all but the stage of messengerhood.

The more man struggles in the worship of his Lord, rids his heart of all weakness and whims of the devil, and distances his self from evil and darkness of sin, the more illuminating he becomes in his feeling of self-purity, radiance of his heart, ecstasy of his soul, the beauty of his life and the increase in his knowledge, because the divine lights do not shine except on the divine hearts accompanied with enlightened souls, as Allah says in surah al-A’raf, verse 56 and 156-157. Those are the ones who sincerely believe in Allah and persevere in the acts of worship and avoid sins without indulging in pleasures and desires. They are the ones who exemplify Sunnah and shari’ah teachings to their best abilities, and they are the ones refer to in shari’ah as the awliya’ (Ayyub, 2003:115).

Abu Hurairah, radiyallahu ‘anhu, reported that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said:

“Allah the Almighty has said: ‘Whosoever acts with enmity towards a closer servant of Mine (wali), I will indeed declare war against him. Nothing endears My servant to Me than doing of what I have made obligatory upon him to do. And My servant continues to draw nearer to Me with supererogatory (nawafil) prayers so that I shall love him. When I love him, I shall be his hearing with which he shall hear, his sight with which he shall see, his hands with which he shall hold, and his feet with which he shall walk. And if he asks (something) of Me, I shall surely give it to him, and if he takes refuge in Me, I shall certainly grant him it.’”

[Al-Bukhari]

Background

The translation of the term wali that is mentioned in the hadith is a closer servant (awliya’) of Allah or a believer rather than a closer friend. There are many verses in the Qur’an that talk about the concept of wilayah. These verses talk about the qualities or attributes of awliya’ and their status in the sight of Allah. In this hadith Allah mentions the status of the wali even before He talks about His attributes. This status is mentioned in the beginning (i.e. Allah will declare war against whoever acts with enmity towards one of His closer servants) and in the end (i.e. Allah will answer their du’a and will give them refuge). This shows the status of awliya’ in the sight of Allah. In the middle of the hadith, Allah tells us the qualities of His closer servants.

The hadith also tells us that Allah loves those who are the closer servants to Allah. This is a natural result of what they do. Allah tells us about their actions upon which they deserved to be loved by Allah. We will see that there are two levels of servants of Allah: The first level is those who fulfill the obligations and avoid the prohibitions (muharramat). The second level is those who not only do this but also perform the preferable acts (nawafil).

 The concept of wilayah (awliya’ Allah) is based on the verses of the Qur’an and this hadith. In the Qur’an there are three verses in Surah Yunus – Ayah 62, 63 and 64.

No doubt verily the awliya’ of Allah (the closer servants of Allah) no fear shall come upon them nor shall they grieve. Those who believed and used to fear Allah much, for them are the glad tidings in this life and the Hereafter.

Based on these three verses and this Hadith Qudsi, we can say that the concept of wilayah comprises of the following:

• The love of Allah
• Fearing of Allah
• Belief or faith in Allah and his Messengers
• Devotion, honesty, and sincerity
• Obedience to Allah and following His instructions – this include performing good deeds. This motif of this obedience is based on fear of Allah, repenting to Allah and submission to His will.

The origin of wilayah is closeness to Allah and the enmity is being far away from the path of Allah. Based on this, the awliya’ of Allah are those who are obedient and perform the good deeds which make them closer to Allah. The enemies of Allah, on the other hand, are those who are evil doers. Their ill deeds distance themselves away from Allah and this will make them far from Allah’s blessing, support, and love.

Lessons

In the first portion of the hadith (“Nothing endears My servant to Me than doing of what I have made obligatory upon him to do. And My servant continues to draw nearer to Me with supererogatory (nawafil) prayers so that I shall love him.”), Allah classifies His servants into two categories:

• The first category are those who get closer to Allah by fulfilling the obligations and avoiding the prohibitions. This is a moderate level that has been described in the Qur’an as ashab alyameen. This is the minimum level of wilayah. In other words, wilayah is achieved just by fulfilling the obligations and avoiding the prohibitions. This level of wilayah is expected from all believers.
• The second category of people are those who are closer to Allah by being competent (al-sabiqeen) in their worship and effort and strive to be close to Allah. This category of people are not satisfied only of performing the obligations and avoiding the prohibitions but they go further by performing the preferable acts. They also avoid the non-preferable acts. Consequently, they will reach the degree of wara’ and wilayah that will make Allah love them. Allah mentions this explicitly and that His love will be granted for these competent people.

Some of the early people (salaf) used to say that it is not a big matter whether you love; the biggest matter is to be loved by Allah. If you are loved by Allah, then you are granted with His mercy and blessings. You are going to be granted with His support and guidance.

The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, used to say the following in his du’a: “O Allah I ask You that You love me and the love of those who love You and to enable me also to love every act and deed that may bring me closer to You”. That is the reason why some of the early scholars say that the actions and the worship that are based on the love of Allah will continue and never be depressed or frustrated. Some others say that the one who loves Allah will not get fed up or bored of getting closer to Allah. He never feels that he is bored of doing good deeds and acts that will get him closer to Allah. Other scholars say that for the one who loves Allah, his heart is purified and he always remembers Allah. He always seeks and strives to do good deeds and acts that will get him closer to Allah. He does all of this with pleasure.

The early scholars also say that the one who loves Allah should obey Him, otherwise he is only claiming to love Allah. Scholars say that among the preferable acts (nawafil) that make a person become closer to Allah, is the nawafil al-salawat (the preferable prayers that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, used to pray every day). Another thing is the recitation of the Qur’an and listening to it with full attention and understanding. Also part of the preferable acts is the remembrance of Allah where what the tongue says matches with what the heart believes, and the love of other good Muslims who are closer to Allah.

 The second portion of this hadith (“When I love him, I shall be his hearing with which he shall hear, his sight with which he shall see, his hands with which he shall hold, and his feet with which he shall walk.”) implies that, as Ibn Rajab says, whoever strives, struggles and makes the effort to get closer to Allah by doing the obligations and performing the preferable acts, Allah will get him closer to him, support him, and take him from one level into another until this servant of Allah reaches the degree of Ihsan where this believer will be able to practice muraqabeh. That is he worships Allah as if he sees Him, and his heart will be full with love of Allah.

Not only will Allah grant him love of Allah but he will also be helped to glorify Allah and granted with satisfaction. This will be strengthened by performing the preferable acts until the heart is full of these acts where nothing else will enslave or capture the heart. The heart is fully devoted to Allah. When that status is reached by the believer, the limbs of that servant will act only in accordance to what Allah loves. Then he will be seeing, hearing, and doing what Allah sees, hears and does. He will be walking towards what Allah wants and likes. The early salaf say that he cannot even commit a sin. Ibn Rajab quotes Ali who said that they used to believe that Omar’s Satan was so frustrated to do any sin or disobedience. This is one of the secrets or the real fruits of tawhid. This is because “La ilaha illa Allah” means that we should only worship, glorify, obey, and love Allah and fear Him the most. When this realisation of tawhid is achieved, then he says the heart will have no place for anything that may displease Allah. What will be in the heart is only what Allah loves. In this case, that person will never commit a sin or any kind of disobedience. Committing sins takes place only if the person loves what Allah hates or that person hates what Allah loves. It also takes place when self interest is given a priority and dominance over the love of Allah. The result will be that the obligations of the tawhid will not be complete. The person will be led to delay obligations or to commit sins.

 The third portion of this hadith (“And if he asks (something) of Me, I shall surely give it to him, and if he takes refuge in Me, I shall certainly grant him it.”) Implies that the closer servant of Allah has a special status in the sight of Allah. This special status will lead to that whatever he asks of Allah, Allah will give him and his du’a will be attended to. If he seeks refuge from anything, he will be given that.

In Sunan Al-Imam Al-Nisa’ei, there is one chapter on iste’azeh. There are many hadiths in this chapter that tell us the sayings that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, used to say to seek refuge of Allah to be saved from things such as poverty, ignorance, the turmoil of the grave, sadness and depression of this life, and various diseases. The closer servant of Allah is granted to be saved from the above mentioned things and many others. As Muslims we have to realise the importance of this portion of the hadith especially for those who are hearing the hadith for the first time. It is better that we learn from the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, what to seek refuge of Allah from. We should try to memorise some hadiths which are in the form of du’a. In that way we will be granted the love of Allah and we will be given the status of awliya’. Consequently, we will be granted with the bounty that whatever we ask for, Allah will give us. Moreover, we will be saved from the harms that are mentioned above.

 The last thing that we need to point out is the misconception of wilayah. After the early centuries of Islam, this concept has been misunderstood to the extent that there came a time when the attributes of the wali is not what is mentioned in the Qur’an and hadith. It is actually by claims. We look at the person and his attitude and worship of Allah and we are shocked to see a big difference. We are surprised to see that the actions do not match with the Islamic teachings. How, then, can this person be a wali? He is not a closer servant of Allah. The real closer servant of Allah will not abuse wilayah and use it for promotion because it is not what he claims but it is in the heart and love of Allah. This should be corrected because until today some Muslims are still confused about wilayah. Imam Shatibi sets a number of criteria for wilayah or karamah because they are granted only if the person is close to Allah. Awliya’u Allah are shy to claim that they are closer to Allah because this contradicts with the idea of ikhlas (sincerity).

Conclusion

We notice that Imam Nawawi brings this hadith which states the main fundamental concepts or principles of Islam in a clear way. By studying this hadith, one comes to know what the concept of wilayah or closeness to Allah means and what he should do. We also know the status of awliya’.

This hadith is a warning to those who may harm believers in general or the closer servants of Allah in particular. Allah declares war against the one who acts with enmity towards His awliya’ (closer servants). This is a message to all Muslims and people not to harm others or to be enemies with Allah by harming the believers. That is how the situation will be, if not in this life, it will be in the Hereafter. Moreover, Allah knows better what is in our favour and what is not in our favour. That’s why sometimes the closer servants of Allah may ask for something and Allah does not attend to their du’a because the things they may ask for may cause them some harm . But still because of their du’a, there will be the blessings and mercy from Allah in similar situations. The blessings of du’a will be also granted in the Hereafter.

What The Classical Scholars Said About Tasawwuf/Sufism

Ibn ‘Abidin (1198 – 1252 AH.) “the Seekers in this Sufi Way don’t hear except from the Divine Presence and they don’t love any but Him. If they remember Him they cry, and if they thank Him they are happy; … May Allah bless them.” [Risa’il Ibn’Abidin p. 172 & 173] 

Muhammad ‘Abduh (1265 – 1323 AH.) “Tasawwuf appeared in the first century of Islam and it received a tremendous honor. It purified the self and straightened the conduct and gave knowledge to people from the Wisdom and Secrets of the Divine Presence.” (Majallat al-Muslim, 6th ed. 1378 H, p. 24]. 

Imam Ahmad Ar-Rifa^iyy may Allah raise his rank said: “Our path is based on acquiring the knowledge of the Religion and implementing it”.

Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi (q.s.) said, “The fake Sufi steals the words of the real Sufis and present them as their own; they trick people with these beautiful teachings which they are merely imitators of.  They do not have true knowledge of that which they speak of.  Many of the great Sufi shuyukh speak of the deceptions of false Sufis.  These people take the title ‘Sufi’ because it gives them a certain amount of prestige and power, and they take advantage of those who cannot tell false Sufism from the real.  There are many who are ‘‘Abdullah’ in this world, but the true and sincere ‘‘Abdullah’ is he, who is ‘‘Abd al-Muswthafa’.  If it is not so, then he is surely an ‘‘Abd ash-Shaythan’.

Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi – also said: A (true) Sufi (Shaykh) is one, whose heart is the manifestation of Hazrat Ibrahim alayhis salam, which is free from the love of the world and one which is always ready to obey the commands of Allah.

Shaykh Sirri as-Saqathi (q.s.) said, “May Allah first Make you a muhaddits, then a Sufi; and not first a Sufi, then a muhaddits.”

Imam Ghazali (ra) commenting on this Dua said,

The meaning of Hazrat Sirri Saqti’s Dua is that the one who first studies Hadith and Knowledge, then sets foot into Sufism, has indeed succeeded. But, he who wishes to become a Sufi before obtaining knowledge has certainly put himself into total destruction. [Ihya al Uloom, Vol, Page 22] 

The Maliki jurist of Cairo, Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha’rani defines Sufism as follows: The path of the Sufis is built on the Quran and the Sunna, and is based on living according to the morals of the prophets and the purified ones. It may not be blamed, unless it violates an explicit statement from the Quran, sunna, or ijma. If it does not contravene any of these sources, then no pretext remains for condemning it, except one’s own low opinion of others, or interpreting what they do as ostentation, which is unlawful. No-one denies the states of the Sufis except someone ignorant of the way they are.’ Sha’rani, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (Cairo, 1374), I, 4.

In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the content of Tasawwuf, “total dedication to Allah Most High,” was, “the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims.” So if the word did not exist in earliest times, we should not forget that this is also the case with many other Islamic disciplines, such as tafsir, ‘Qur’anic exegesis,’ or ‘ilm al-jarh wa ta‘dil, ‘the science of the positive and negative factors that affect hadith narrators acceptability,’ or ‘ilm al-tawhid, the science of belief in Islamic tenets of faith,’ all of which proved to be of the utmost importance to the correct preservation and transmission of the religion.

Al-Ghajdawaniyy, who set the foundation for the Naqshabandiyyah tariqah, wrote a letter to one of his students. In his letter he said: « I urge you to acquire the knowledge and the good manners and to be God-fearing. Follow the traces of the good scholars who lived during the first 300 years after the immigration of the Prophet and the scholars who followed their path after them. Adhere to Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jama^ah. Study the fiqh, [that is, the knowledge of the rules of the Religion]. Study the hadith, [the knowledge of the sayings of the Prophet]. Study tafsir, [the interpretation of the Qur’an], and beware and avoid those who are ignorant and claim to be Sufis. »

The Fake Waliya Claimants

Today, there are so many Shaykhs misleading their followers by claiming to have reached to the door of  a waliya. They certainly don’t have any Knowledge in the science of Hadiths, Aqida, Fiqh.

They try to cover their defects by saying to people statements such as “We are the people of the inwardly spiritual practices and you are the people of the outwardly actions”. 

The path of our master Abu Bakr, ^Umar, ^Uthman, ^Aliyy and those who righteously followed them in adhering to the methodology of our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. In the past and until present times, the earth has never been empty from the true followers of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him who are identified as the true Sufis. They are the ones whose hearts are sincere and free of corruption.

This is the path of the prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, and this is the path of our Master Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

Indeed, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the role model for all pious Muslims and those who detached themselves from the worldly pleasures. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, used to eat the cheap barley bread although he used to give (in charity) abundantly without fearing poverty.

The true Sufis are the ones who follow the Methodology of Prophet Muhammad and are keen to imitate the Prophet, peace be upon him.

So anyone who goes against the rules conveyed by our Master Muhammad is not a Sufi.

Anyone who holds a belief other than the belief of our Prophet Muhammad is not a Sufi.

Anyone who is ignorant about the Religion of our Prophet Muhammad is not a Sufi.

And anyone who does not follow the orders of our great Master Muhammad, is indeed not a Sufi.

Unfortunately, there are some who have claimed to be Sufis while contravening the Shari^ah and leaving out the practices that were conveyed by the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him.

How many of those who present themselves as Sufis have been seen perverting the Religion of Allah? Some falsely believe that Allah dwells in his creations or that He has unified with this whole universe and that the elements of this universe have become parts of Him. All these beliefs are blasphemous.

Sufism, in the present, as in the past, is the effective means for spreading the reality of Islam, extending the knowledge and understanding of spirituality and fostering happiness and peace. With it, Muslims can improve, transform, and elevate themselves and find salvation from the ignorance of this world and the misguided pursuit of some materialistic fantasy.

“Some people accept everything of Sufism, what is right as well as what is wrong; others reject it totally, both what is wrong as well as what is right”

We ask Allah to end our lives as righteous Muslims and to make us amongst those true believers who follow the teachings of the Prophet in its entirety and protect us from misguidences.  Ameen.